Legacy of the Portal War

Session 2

Peter, having decided to stay behind to seek a rather foolish, but in his mind, heroic death charged out at the army of jackal warriors together with the other 200 volunteers. The fight didn’t last long adn they were cut down in short order. The other 300 or so survivors fled from the keep and managed to escape south. Things turned out quite different then Peter had expected though, as he awoke a few hours later, laying in one of the tents of the army’s camp. He was not alone there, one of the jackal warriors was guarding the entrance, and a slight figured, hooded person was watching him. She spoke briefly to him, wondering at the foolishness of his actions and reminding him there were more important things he should be doing. He recognized her voice as the one from his dreams, and after been given his things and some supplies, he departed to the south, in search of the rest.

The others had at that point reached the next city on their way south. This city was a lot smaller then the previous one, and a huge encampement had been built next to it, refugees from all around seeking shelter. Entrance to the city was being heavily restricted. The group sought out someone in charge and told them about what had happened in the north. Learning what sort of troops were in this city, Ruargh quickly realised this city would fall within hours if they stayed to defend.

Not long after they arrived, Peter walked into the camp and told them what had happened to him. Adding yet more mystery to what was going on. Ruargh then sent Richard and Varric north to see how much time they would have before the invading army arrived here. That same night, the group was attacked by a bunch of assassins but they managed, although with some trouble, to kill all four of them. Their leader was carrying a drawing of Ruargh. That same night, a disease broke out, first in the camp, and then sprading to the city. Both Peter and Jon fell ill, getting weaker with the day. They couldn’t immediately find out what was the cause, but after Viktor also fell ill, and he had been staying away from the camp, they did some more investigating and discovered that the source was the food being sold in the camp. They even traced it back to the original sellers but could find nothing wrong there. Where or how the food had gotten contaminated remained a mystery.

The two scouts discovered an advance scouting party of the jackal warriors, and surprisingly, decided to kill them off int heir sleep. This didn’t really go according to plan and they were forced to flee, but they did learn a piece of valuable information…the jackal warriors are capable of regenerating, even the mortal wound Richard inflicted healed quickly. The future of mankind seems very bleak indeed.
They returned to the camp not long after to deliver this news and to warn that the advancing army would be here within 2 days.
In the meanwhile Viktor had managed to get some intel from the city, finding out that the assassins were indeed after Ruargh, although the drawing seemed to be an old one, depicting a much younger knight. And that the bounty on his head was beyong imagining, a hefty 100000 gold, and more interestingly…had been there for over 60 years. Another mystery to add to the total.

They urged the city officials to let people flee to the south and abanadon to the south, but the lord of the keep wouldn’t hear of it. They managed to convince a lot of the people in the camp however and they started moving, aided by the remaining soldiers that had come south with them.
Not long after the army arrived and they sent a small group to negotiate. The jackal warriors, having learned from the previous encounter and negotiation with Ruargh, offered a period of two days for everyone who wanted to leave, after that, they would show no mercy to those who stayed behind.

The disease int he meanwhile was starting to take it’s toll, and the first people were starting to die due to it’s effects. As it seemed that Jon and Peter would fall to the disease aswel as it wasn’t stopped, the group resumed to seek out a means to stop it. The jackal warrios, having been informed of the plague by Ruargh, decided to check it out and after investigating Peter, they told the group that the disease was magical in nature, and while it probably wouldn’t have much effect on their army, they told the group that they would hold off the attack till the disease had been dealt with.

Ruargh then contacted a prvious priest of the One to see if he could offer help in curing the disease, and the man told him that in the crypt beneath the old temple there was still a relic that could help. So the group went to the crypt in search of this relic. The temple however had been turned into a warehouse by an influential merchant. Getting in didn’t cause much trouble, but getting out would be more tricky as they would learn later on.
They quickly found what they needed in the crypt, and while Viktor was checking the cache with the relic they were attacked. The ground beneath Viktor shifted and he managed to get out off the way, but the creature then focused on Ruargh and managed to get him fully underground. Instead of seeking out what creature was causing the trouble, the group decided to try and get Ruargh free, all of them, so for quite a while the creature had a free reign and this almost proved to be the groups undoing. When they finalle decided to seek it out, on order of Ruargh, the search quickly turned into a fight, with the elemental attacker, pulling people into the ground, travellign through the walls and ground from one place to the next and making hit and run attacks while disabling everyone in turn. In the end Viktor had been pulled completaly underground, Peter, Richard and Varric had been knocked out and Jon and Ruargh were in bad shape when the creature finally went down. So they dug out Viktor and stopped the other’s wounds, then took the relic back to the priest.
After shortly investigasting the relic, the old man used it to cure Jon, Viktor and Peter of the disease, though they would have to heal the damage inflicted by themselves.